The vivid "Portrait of the Railway Panic," by Doyle, No. 17, was published November 8, 1845, and refers to the depression in railway-dividends then being caused by over-competition in railway-promotion; No. 20 also refers to the railway-schemes of that time, and is Mr. Punch's ironical notice [dated September 26, 1846] of "The Last New Railway Scheme," i.e., the proposal for making an Underground Railway, which, as we here read, was scoffed at by Punch—"The Secretary is announced to be in attendance to receive deposits from eleven to two; though, whether he gets any is, in our opinion, ten to one." But immediately below these words Mr. Punch gives a sectional diagram of the Underground Railway as he conceived it, and it is not a bad shot at "A prophetic view of the subterranean railways." As a matter of fact, the works for the now familiar Metropolitan (Underground) Railway were commenced in 1860; fourteen years after this ironical prophecy by Punch.
AUTHORS' MISERIES. No VI.
Old Gentleman. Miss Wiggets. Two Authors.
Old Gentleman. "I am sorry to see you occupied, my dear Miss Wiggets, with that trivial paper 'Punch.' A Railway is not a place, in my opinion, for jokes. I never joke—never."
Miss W. "So I should think, Sir."
Old Gentleman. "And besides, are you aware who are the conductors of that paper, and that they are Chartists, Deists, Atheists, Anarchists, and Socialists, to a man? I have it from the best authority, that they meet together once a week in a tavern in Saint Giles's, where they concoct their infamous Print. The chief part of their income is derived from Threatening Letters which they send to the Nobility and Gentry. The principal Writer is a returned Convict. Two have been tried at the Old Bailey; and their Artist—as for their Artist...."
Guard. "Swin-dun! Sta-tion!"
[Exeunt two Authors.
25.—DRAWN BY THACKERAY, AND CONTAINING AT THE LEFT PORTRAITS OF THACKERAY AND OF DOUGLAS JERROLD. 1848.